Isaiah 35. The wilderness shall become fruitful as the most fertile districts of Palestine. Let the timid take courage, for Divine vengeance on the enemy is at hand. The blind and deaf, the lame and dumb, will be healed. The thirsty desert shall abound with streams and springs. In the haunts of wild creatures will be grass for cattle. There shall be a holy way for pilgrims, on which the godless will not be permitted to travel; it will be unmolested by wild beasts, so that the pilgrims may travel on it in safety as they go up to Zion.
Isaiah 35:1. rose: better autumn croons (mg.) or narcissus.
Isaiah 35:3. Carmel: pp. 28- 30. Sharon: p. 28.
Isaiah 35:5-7. The descriptions are literally intended.
Isaiah 35:7. glowing sand: the rendering mirage (mg.) is very attractive. The phantom lake which deceives the traveller in the desert will be replaced by real pools of water. But it forms no good parallel to thirsty ground, and is not suitable in Isaiah 49:10 *
Isaiah 35:7 b. The text has been mutilated. Originally it may have run somewhat as follows: In the haunts of jackals and wild cats Will be a resting place for your flocks and herds; The enclosure of the ostriches Will be filled with reeds and rushes.
Isaiah 35:8. for those: read, for his people, and continue, when it walks in the way, and fools shall not go to and fro in it. Fools bears a moral rather than an intellectual sense. They are the irreligious, and they will be excluded. The EV is singularly unfortunate, since it has been commonly taken to mean that the way to heaven is so plain that not even a fool can miss it.